Scale up within tech infrastructure

The challenge.

Managing Director, Karl Mendez, was looking to transition the finance function from family-led and bookkeeping focused, to a more strategic, forward-looking capability in order to successfully navigate the company’s major investment and growth initiatives.

CWCS had recently acquired a business and needed help integrating accounts, preparing for future acquisitions, and undertaking the construction of a multi-million-pound data centre that supports their corporate social responsibility initiatives to be greener and more sustainable.

The approach.

The CFO Centre’s Maria Smith began by transforming the management information, introducing clear, user-friendly financial data. This gave CWCS much-needed insight into trends, profitability, and forecasting.

She has worked closely with Karl on the new data centre project which represents the single biggest Scaling activity for the business. As environmental sustainability is a core value for CWCS, they made green choices on everything from energy-efficient equipment to polished concrete flooring. This meant higher initial costs which will be mitigated over time as equipment life and the returns over the lifetime are greater.

Maria supported the funding process by modelling the outcomes and producing detailed financial plans, providing clear insights into the project’s impact and a better understanding of the financial implications over the next few years. This supported informed decision-making and enhanced engagement with funders to drive successful outcomes.

The CFO Centre’s solutions.

From integrating acquisition accounts and improving forecasting, to helping raise finance and optimise cash flow, Maria has been a trusted partner in CWCS’s transformation. She’s helped them secure funding, improve systems, and future-proof the business against fluctuating energy costs; all things which are essential stepping stones towards a successful and scaled up future.

CWCS set out to expand capacity, boost environmental performance, and build a future-ready data centre. Working with Workspace Technology and their in-house team, including Thomas Foster, they created a facility with advanced cooling, smart monitoring, and sustainable infrastructure. Now live, it quadruples capacity and positions CWCS as an environmental leader.

Karl is delighted with the way things have worked with Maria and The CFO Centre, especially because they’ve worked together in a really collaborative and integrated way. He now talks about ‘knowing his numbers’ far better than before which has given him more confidence when forecasting and speaking about the business. He sees the growth of his business as a way of supporting his clients to grow too. With their new data centre, they can support more clients and give their people a better place to work so everyone’s a winner.